The PROTECT IP Act continued to suffer serious blows on Thursday as both the Senate Majority Leader and the Senate Minority Leader made moves that further damaged the anti-piracy bill's chances of passage. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will not seek to use his leverage over other Democrats to ensure the Protect IP Act gets enough votes to overcome a filibuster. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) joined other Republican senators in blasting Reid for rushing the legislation to the Senate floor.

Ordinarily, party leaders use their leverage over their members to "whip" them into voting in line with the rest of their caucus. But according to Politico, "Reid won't whip Democratic votes for an online anti-piracy bill, according to sources familiar with his plans." That means Democrats will feel free to oppose the bill without worrying that they will be denied future favors by party leaders.

"The decision deals a severe blow to movie, music and television producers, who had hoped to withstand a surprisingly strong Silicon Valley surge against the bill," Politico reports.

Meanwhile, on the Republican side, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell joined the growing chorus of Republican Senators accusing Reid of rushing the bill through the Senate without adequate debate.

"While we must combat the on-line theft of intellectual property, current proposals in Congress raise serious legal, policy and operational concerns," McConnell said. "Rather than prematurely bringing the Protect IP Act to the Senate floor, we should first study and resolve the serious issues with this legislation."

He urged the Democratic leadership to "reconsider its decision to proceed to this bill."

For more details on the "serious issues" with PIPA, Sen. Reid might want to ask his staff to check out our coverage from yesterday.

Even though the recent moves have been in our favour, I can't shake the disgust I have for these people. Given how much power they wield (over more than just the US) and obviously how little they actually knew about the bills, one has to wonder just how educated they really are. Or at the very least, how little work they put into their bloody job.

Or am I simply too optimistic by thinking they surely couldn't just be corporate shills bought and paid for.

Reid never tries to exert any discipline over his party, so nothing is new here.

But if Republicans succeed in making the unpopular SOPA and PIPA bills into "Democrat bills", Democrats are going to pay the consequences. The Democrats' problem is that in the age of Citizens United, Hollywood and Big Content is one of the few sources of D-leaning billionaires.

Keep it up you dirty politicians, the Internet community will rise up again.

Anonymous is attacking many Government and Big Content Sites right now for us all.I hope they will get us some real dirt so the world can see the truth.And I now it is justified because these Rats in Washington will just try it again later in the Year.So kiss my Ass Washington and the Big Content Companies !

Reid never tries to exert any discipline over his party, so nothing is new here.

But if Republicans succeed in making the unpopular SOPA and PIPA bills into "Democrat bills", Democrats are going to pay the consequences. The Democrats' problem is that in the age of Citizens United, Hollywood and Big Content is one of the few sources of D-leaning billionaires.

Why did you conveniently forget unions? Unions have every bit the spending power of major corporations. Did we also forget Obama's war chest? Democrat - check. More money than any other presidential candidate - check. Stop thinking there is any differentiation between party lines when it comes to actual votes. Rhetoric is they only difference between candidates.

Reid never tries to exert any discipline over his party, so nothing is new here.

But if Republicans succeed in making the unpopular SOPA and PIPA bills into "Democrat bills", Democrats are going to pay the consequences. The Democrats' problem is that in the age of Citizens United, Hollywood and Big Content is one of the few sources of D-leaning billionaires.

I'd say there's little chance of this given that the principle author of SOPA is a Republican. Then again, no one has ever gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the American electorate.

I'm sure these crazy bill are just a smokescreen for another bill that looks sane by comparison and still has most of the stuff they want...or everything will be pasted into some "C.P." bill that will be political suicide to vote against. The medias will get the stuff they payed for one way or another.

If you piss off the internet (IE..everyone *except* congress), they'll vote you out based on *one* very wrong move. Supporting SOPA and PIPA = a fatal move.

Sorry, I need to correct this (because people had similar misconceptions here in Australia not long ago).

Most voters have no idea what SOPA is and care even less. Just because you see it everywhere on the sites you see on the internet, doesn't mean other people have seen it/know about it/care about it.

You only have to look at https://twitter.com/#!/herpderpedia to see how many people didn't have the inkling on an idea what was happening, even though there was a (short and very clear) paragraph on the wikipedia blackout page.

I am far more likely to vote for you re-election if I know that you are not receiving (or even better, not accepting) any money at all from the MPAA, or other organizations whose lobbying only serves to further curtail freedom and diminish the public domain, than I would be to vote for you if you were. I am certain I am not alone in wishing politicians were not receiving such dirty money to buy the ears and votes of our elected officials. So, please let Chris Dodd follow through with his threat, and if he doesn't have the guts to do so, then force him to by not accepting any of his campaign contributions.

Emailed Feinstein and Boxer, told them I'd join the millions that would be dedicated to opposing their future political career if they continued to support PIPA. Now I'm monitoring their stance to see if my future actually will be dedicated to their political demise. Personally, I hope they defy our wishes, just to kick me in the pants hard enough to start acting politically.

I am far more likely to vote for you re-election if I know that you are not receiving (or even better, not accepting) any money at all from the MPAA, or other organizations whose lobbying only serves to further curtail freedom and diminish the public domain, than I would be to vote for you if you were. I am certain I am not alone in wishing politicians were not receiving such dirty money to buy the ears and votes of our elected officials. So, please let Chris Dodd follow through with his threat, and if he doesn't have the guts to do so, then force him to by not accepting any of his campaign contributions.

Sincerely,Interactive Civilian

He came to power with the promise fo change and, to be fair, the economy he was handed was in no state to do anything interesting but he could make his mark on the world and fulfill his promise by striking a blow to the heart of the Washington lobby system.

If he could publicise turning down lobby money well enough I genuinely think he could win a large number of voters PARTICULARLY as none of the republican candidates are electable. I think its become clear to everyone that Mitt and Newt are not presidents, just rich men in suits. At least George Bush was tied to his dad.

quote from article: "That means Democrats will feel free to oppose the bill without worrying that they will be denied future favors by party leaders."

this is precisely why i hate politics. it isn't about pleasing your constituents or judging issues on their own merits. it's about voting within party lines, accepting money from lobbyists, coattailing completely unrelated line items to proposed legislation, and currying favor with your superiors hoping that they might one day do you a solid.

it's good to see PIPA losing some steam, but the fact that so many politicians are caving SO quickly is indicative of two things, both of which are unsettling: 1) the bill was ridiculously short-sighted and ill-thought out, introduced by people who clearly dont understand the situation fully, and 2) the supporters of such bills can be bought: all you have to do is threaten their re-election probability. not particularly confidence-inspiring, is it?